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US buys town for anti-terror training

A disused jungle gym in a field in Playas, New Mexico. Playas, which has only 50 residents, has been tapped by the US government as a new anti-terror training center. PHOTO: NY TIMES

The residents of Playas, all 50 or so of those remaining from the peak of 1,000, say they are more than ready for their town to become a target for pickups laden with explosives and simulations of suicide bombs, water-supply poisoning and anthrax attacks.

In what might be the beginning of Playas' renaissance, the Department of Homeland Security is channeling US$5 million to a small New Mexico engineering school to buy the entire town. The school, in turn, aims to turn the town into one of the country's top locations for anti-terrorism training.

"I wish they'd hurry up and start hiring people," Carol Davis, 51, a part-time emergency medical technician, said in front of her spacious home, with the Chiricahua Mountains in the distance. "It's too quiet out here right now. I'd like a job driving an ambulance or something."

The isolation of Playas is part of the allure for New Mexico Tech, which expects to complete the purchase in the next few weeks.

"Playas is not your typical ghost town with a saloon and a couple of storefronts, which is what made it so attractive to us," said Van Romero, vice president for research and economic development at New Mexico Tech, based in the town of Socorro.

The university, which has 1,800 students, has trained more than 90,000 emergency workers to respond to terror attacks since the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. Altogether, it is receiving US$20 million in grants from the Department of Homeland Security for anti-terrorism programs.

Playas will be used mostly to train security, medical and military personnel to prevent attacks as well as respond to them. Romero said he would not ask residents to leave before the "attacks."

"On the contrary, we'd like to have them stay," he said in a telephone interview from his office in Socorro. "We figure about 200 jobs should be created by our transformation of Playas."
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